The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of animal gate or access door, training diaphragms or membranes used in order to train the animal to use such gate, and also pertains to a novel method of training the animal so that it will make use of the gate or access door.
It is well-known to hang a piece of cloth or other material over openings in walls, doors and so forth for the passage of animals, in particular domestic animals, for example, from one inside room to the outside, for the purpose of reducing heat-loss. Such curtains are not draught-proof and are opened with almost no resistance by the smallest wind pressure, whereby the sealing effect deteriorates further and is practically useless.
For this reason it has already been suggested to seal such entrances or throughpass openings by means of a hinged stiff flap. Such flaps afford a better seal but are much too complicated and extravagant and have the further disadvantage that certain animal body parts, for instance, the tail, can become trapped, so that the animal subsequently refuses to go through.
For the above-mentioned reasons the attempt has already been made to build a sealing door in the throughpass opening or aperture and to control the opening and shutting sequence mechanically by means of photoelectric cells, delaying relays and so forth. Such installations are too complicated, unreliable and also too expensive, so that they are not marketable.
A prior art animal access door, as disclosed in British Pat. No. 1,133,170, possesses a round elastic membrane which is attached by means of a flange about the throughpass opening at a door. A membrane is divided by means of slits free of play into flexible flips.
What is disadvantageous with this construction is that after passage of an animal through the gate the edges of neighboring flaps abut one another due to the thickness of the membrane material and the low elastic restoring force of the flaps prevents their return into their original, in other words, their closed position. Therefore, such prior art constructions of animal gates are untight and thus fail to satisfactory fulfil the intended function.
It has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,832,406 and French Pat. No. 1,453,979, to secure triangular panel elements formed of an elastic material at a frame having an elliptical throughpass opening. The plate or panel elements overlap in an imbricated fashion in the circumferential direction of the animal gate and thus form an elastically deformable closure layer formed of a multiplicity of individual parts.
Such gates, notwithstanding their single closure layer, are complicated in construction, require exact panel or plate elements of different shapes and an accurate and complicated assembly. Due to the imbricated overlapping of neighboring panel elements there is increased the thickness of the closure layer, starting from the periphery towards the center, to a multiple corresponding to the number of panel elements. At the center of the gate there prevail unpredictable conditions, which are dependent upon a number of factors. Also there is rendered questionable the effect of the overlapping due to the asymmetry of the panel or plate elements, attachment means and so forth. Following the passage of an animal the edges of neighboring panel elements tend to intertwine or become caught in one another during the return movement of the panel elements. Such prior art gates, notwithstanding their considerable constructional expenditure, are untight and do not fulfil their intended purpose in a satisfactory manner.